Meet 26-year-old impoverished Bapi Gochhayat of Orta village under Mahakalapada block, who has committed himself to cleaning plastic and polythene bags from sea beaches.
His mission is to restrict environmental degradation and save aquatic species by creating awareness among the masses.
For his act, he won accolades from several quarters. By profession, he is a housekeeper in Paradip College. He has been cleaning the beaches of Paradip and Pentha in regular intervals with an aim to create a plastic free environment.
According to him, plastics and polythenes thrown in an irresponsible way have not only been harmful for the human beings as they invite a series of diseases but also are fatal for aquatic creatures inhabitating in sea. They are also a prime reason for soil degradation and environmental pollution.
“We all know how harmful plastic is for the environment and our small effort to fight pollution will do wonders," Gochhayat said.
Bapi has collected around 1,000 kg of plastic bottles, polythene and various single-use plastic wastes from the sea beach of Paradip, Nehru Bungalow and from Jhau forest. He has been reminding the tourists coming to the beach and the vegetable hawkers of the grave threat of pollution and encouraging them to create a clean and healthy environment.
Padma Shri awardee and renowned film maker Nilamadhab Panda appreciating Gochhayat's work wrote in his tweeter page “Keep it up , hope your efforts inspire more and more people and we all start caring and respecting the environment."
Kendrapada MP Anubhav Mohanty too praised Bapi’s work and tweeted: “Great ! your efforts are praiseworthy but at the same time I would also request others to develop self awareness and save the mother Earth."